1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink jet printer and a control method thereof.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a printing method using an ink jet printer is performed by causing small ink droplets to fly and become attached to a medium such as paper. According to the innovative progress of the ink jet printing technology, printing is performed by an ink jet printer on cloth to which ink is highly absorbable such as silk, polyester, or cotton, or on a plastic medium to which ink is not absorbable.
There has been known a technique in which when printing is performed on the plastic medium by the ink jet printer, the surface of the medium is reformed by irradiating the surface with plasma, and the compatibility between the medium and the ink is enhanced (for example, see JP-A-2010-197546, JP-A-2012-179748, and JP-A-2012-179747).
JP-A-2010-197546 discloses an ink jet printer including a line-type head in which the head does not move in a width direction of a medium, and a plasma irradiation mechanism. In addition, JP-A-2012-179748 and JP-A-2012-179747 disclose an ink jet printer that includes a serial-type head in which the head moves in a width direction of a medium and a plasma irradiation mechanism.
As in JP-A-2010-197546, in line printing in which the speed of transporting a medium is constant, even surface modification is easily performed by irradiating the surface with the plasma. However, as in JP-A-2012-179748 and JP-A-2012-179747, since, in serial printing in which the medium intermittently stops, the irradiation time of the plasma when the media is transported is different from that when the media is stopped, it is difficult to perform even surface modification. If the surface modification is not evenly performed, the unevenness may occur according to the attachment of the ink.